‘I can spend it on cars if I want to’, Farage says as he faces grilling over £5m gift from crypto billionaire
Nigel Farage insisted he could ‘spend it on cars if’ he received a £5m gift from a crypto billionaire [he] He told reporters who questioned him that what he did with money was “none of your business.”
The Commons’ dirty watchdog is investigating the Reform UK leader over his failure to declare a multimillion-pound donation from party donor Christopher Harborne weeks before Mr Farage stood in the 2024 general election.
Mr Farage had previously insisted the gift was given to pay for private security for the rest of his life, but later claimed it was “a reward for 27 years of campaigning for Brexit”.
Mr Farage insisted on Tuesday that “nobody cares” about the money, and when asked by BBC Breakfast how much of the gift had been spent he said: “It’s none of your business.”
“I firmly believe I did nothing wrong in any way,” he said, adding that he had no regrets about not declaring the donation at the time.
“I also know that I have received zero in personal expenses since I was elected as an MP. I am very careful and very cautious in these matters. I believe this is a completely private matter. The standards commissioner may think differently.”
Asked what the gift was for, Mr Farage said: “Let’s be clear, it’s an unconditional gift. I can spend it on cars if I want. That’s entirely up to me, isn’t it?”
“But there is a particular reason for this. I have been the most physically attacked and endangered politician in Britain for over a decade. At every stage of that period, when I have asked for help and support from the state, they have often flatly refused.”
Mr Harborne’s donations to Mr Farage and Reform UK have been a particular controversy for the party after he gifted the party £9 million last August – the largest donation from a living person to a political party in history – and a further £3 million this year.
Mr Farage’s recent disclosure of the £5 million “gift” from the crypto entrepreneur prompted an investigation by Westminster’s standards watchdog into whether Mr Farage broke Commons rules by not declaring it after his election in 2024.
He could be removed from the House of Commons if the investigation finds he has seriously breached parliamentary rules. A suspension of 10 days or more could trigger a recall petition, which could result in him having to fight for his Clacton seat again.
Asked if he had been interviewed about the possibility of becoming an MP before accepting the gift, Farage said: “Yes. After that I said, ‘I’m not going to stand in this election’. And when the snap election was called I was quite clear that I wasn’t going to do it. Then I changed my mind.”
